In a petition Monday, the attorneys say the decision last month found evidence showing blacks were disadvantaged in hiring and promotion decisions but left them without a collective remedy to address those wrongs.

At a minimum, they say the court should reinstate the lawsuit to focus on eight departments where the state’s own expert found racial disparities in hiring.

The justices rejected the lawsuit, ruling that the employees and applicants failed to prove which specific hiring practices disadvantaged them.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers say that outcome isn’t in line with the court’s history of landmark equality rulings dating back to slavery.